Posts tagged ‘Alexander Family Cemetery’

Elizabeth and Lavina were buried in the Alexander Family Cemetery, also known as the Salem Cemetery, in modern Oconee Co., SC.

Elizabeth (Alexander) Watson’s life was, in some ways, tragic. According to family lore, she had just birthed her fourth child, Lavina, when her husband James Watson, his father Moses, and possibly some of James’ brothers were murdered by the Hoopers in the infamous Watson-Hooper feud of Jackson Co., NC. Elizabeth and James’ two eldest children, Daniel and James, watched the lynching from the woods near the home where Elizabeth was lying in, recovering from child birth.

Soon afterwards, Elizabeth took her four children back to then Pickens Dist., SC, to the home of her parents, Daniel and Levina Alexander. Neither Elizabeth nor Lavina survived long after their journey. Elizabeth and James’ remaining three children (Daniel, James, and Elizabeth) were raised by Elizabeth’s family.

Daniel D. Alexander, Sr., and his wife, Levina, were the parents of my ancestress, Elizabeth Alexander (1833 – 1865), who married James Watson, a participant in and casualty of the Watson-Hooper feud of Jackson County, NC. They are buried in the Salem Cemetery, more commonly known as the Alexander Cemetery, in Oconee County, SC (see reference number C003 on the linked web site).

At one time, the stones stood as individual markers. After Daniel’s broke, a thoughtful descendant had the two placed in a larger monument and reset atop the burial sites. A close-up makes the dates easier to read:

Daniel was the son of Micajah and Elizabeth Lewis Alexander. Levina was the daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth Kennemore Rice. Peggy Burton Rich has compiled a great deal of information on this particular Alexander family in a series of books, the first of which is entitled The Alexander Families of Upper South Carolina.